I am very blessed that I have never had a super picky eater. All 3 of my kids never turned down much food. Yea, my youngest, Little Lady (17 months), doesn’t care for raw broccoli, but that’s an intense texture and taste, so we will just try again later.

I credit most of that to one of our household rules: “You eat what is fixed or you do without… Mom is not a short-order cook!“. Now like I said, my kids haven’t been SUPER picky eaters so this rule worked for us. There have never been any nutritional issues or worries, and I think Rosey Posey (now 11yr) is the only one who was stubborn enough to skip a meal. She only did it once and was happy when dinner time came after refusing lunch. There have been plenty of meals where someone didn’t like the food and was the last one to finish due to the procrastination of eating, but no one has ever really gone hungry.

When doing my meal planning I try to take into consideration the family’s preferences. Bubee (5 years) does not like spicy food. Since I don’t like it and Little Lady doesn’t need it, I really try to stay away from spicy food. Rosey Posey doesn’t like tomato soup, so the only time there is tomato soup is when I’m fixing grilled cheese. That way she still has something to eat. I also love to get everyone’s feedback on dishes. When I fix something new I like to hear what they think, this way I can plan for next time.

My only boy, Bubee, eats ALL the time. Our family joke is we are not saving for college, we are saving for a food fund for his teen years. He is the youngest in his class (July Birthday) and the tallest. One of our doctors estimates he will be about 6’8″ when he’s full grown, so you can imagine what kind of food it takes to fuel that kind of growth. I keep a large supply of healthy snacks in the house.

About a month ago Bubee started not wanting ANYTHING I fixed for dinner. I was blind-sided! Getting him to eat was a battle every night and there were many times that 30 min after everyone else was done he was still staring at his plateful. He would always finish his dinner… eventually, but I was getting tired of the struggle.

Then one day while meal planning I had an idea: Let him plan the meals, then there was no way he could refuse to eat! Great idea, but I didn’t want pizza every night, so a compromise: If he eats his dinner each night without complaining, then once a week he gets to pick ANY normal meal for dinner (This way he can’t pick Ice Cream Sundaes or something like that). We chose Tuesday nights since that’s what works with our schedule.

I do all my grocery shopping on Mondays. So now, every Monday he ‘places his order’ for Tuesday nights. This keeps him from changing his mind 5 min before dinner and gives me enough time to plan and prepare. I have been so pleasantly surprised! Of course the first week he wanted pizza, so to make it fun we made a Snowman Pizza. After that it has been nice. One week he asked for breakfast for dinner; This means eggs, bacon, biscuits, and gravy. Another week he wanted fish.

It has been so wonderful! And through out the week usually a quick reminder of his Tuesday night privilege and he’s more than happy to finish dinner. Some nights, if he’s not thrilled with dinner, he will talk about his plans for that upcoming Tuesday night; but he always finishes his dinner now with minimal conflict!

It has been so successful that Thursday nights Rosey Posey gets to pick dinner. I like it because that’s two less dinners I have to plan each week. And with Rosey Posey being 11, some weeks she not only plans dinner, but prepares it too. This has been a great tool in teaching her some household management skills.

So now, dinner time has once again become a peaceful family gathering at the dinner table with plenty of joy, peace and love!

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Steph Seibert is the WAH, homeschooling, mother of 3. After several years of missing seasonal activities, her family started making seasonal ‘bucket lists’. She posts about these adventures, crafts, DIYs, recipes and more at A Time for Seasons in hopes of helping other families get the most out of each season.

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What a great idea, right!?! I’ll keep that in my idea bank for when my little miss is older! Thanks so much for sharing Steph!!

Now she has a $20 Amazon Gift Card to give away to one lucky Truly Lovely reader!! Enter below using the Rafflecopter form. The giveaway will close midnight on Tuesday, January 21st and the winner will be announced the next day! Thanks for entering and good luck!

Hey there lovelies! Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend! We have a sweet lady for you to meet today, Bethani of Cheers, Bethani! She’s got the prime position on our sidebar this month!

<—– Over there on the left, under sponsors. Yep, that’s her. And we just adore her. She’s a new mommy, a wife to her fun hubby (shown below) and a sweet Texas gal! She has a yummy breakfast recipe to share with you today! First, take notes on the deliciousness, then please take a second and tell her hello over at her place. While you’re there meet her sweet baby boy, the cuteness kills me! Thanks dolls!

Here’s Bethani….

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hey gals (and guys)! my name is bethani and i blog over at cheers, bethani where i talk about just about everything. seriously. what i’m loving, hating, family adventures and of course food!

i recently become a mommy to the sweetest, most handsome little boy ever & will be married to my love two years in april! life has definitely changed over the last few months, but this chapter of my life has been the best so far, especially since i get to be a stay at home mom with him, while just working a few hours in the evenings and on weekends.

one thing though that hasn’t changed is my love for food. and one of my favorite foods ever is breakfast! anytime of the day too. so today i’m gonna share one of my favorite breakfast casserole recipes that i live for. its so simple & can feed a crowd. even if you don’t have a crowd to feed, this recipe makes great for leftovers the next morning.

ingredients:

6 large eggs

1 can crescent rolls (the pillsbury i have found work the best)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can (the small can) green chiles

1 lb breakfast sausage, browned

1 regular size bag shredded cheese

salsa (optional)

the hows:

the night before you want to eat this yumminess: mix together in a glass bowl the eggs, mushroom soup & green chiles. cover and refrigerate overnight. this gives everything to time merge flavors.

when ready to cook: preheat oven to 350 degrees.

brown sausage in skillet and drain of grease.

set aside.

grease 9×13″ baking pan with your preferred cooking spray (PAM).

roll out & press crescent rolls into bottom of pan, sealing any gaps to create a solid layer on the bottom.

sprinkle browned sausage on the layer of crescent roll evenly.

dump egg, soup, chile mixture on top of sausage and crescent rolls.

spread bag of shredded cheese on top evenly. (my dad cant have cheese so we always leave a corner without when he dines with us)

bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour. (i check to see if its cooked by gently pressing on the top and if it bounces back or not and/or jiggles.)

enjoy with salsa!

i hope you enjoy this recipe as much as our family and friends do.

thanks again to kassi & kayli for letting me take over their blog today & for residing on their sidebar during april. be sure to stop by my blog & subscribe for more recipes, tips, & more on my life.

Hello there dolls!
Hope you’re enjoying your weekend so far!!!
I have a few lovelies to introduce you to today… Lovelies that are giving away some fun goodies in our December Group Giveaway going on now! Have you entered yet?

Well here they are… The ladies of December on Truly Lovely’s sidebar!!!!
This month’s Sponsor Spotlight theme is… CHRISTMAS!!
Read the answers they shared to a few Christmas questions… Find what you have in common and make a new friend!
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This sponsor spotlight post features our Medium ad sponsors! Hope you’ll check out their Thanksgiving favorites, see what you have in common and then click over to say hello! We’re thankful to have them (our sponsors) and YOU (our readers) in our lives, so we hope you’ll take a second to get to know one another!

You can see our Thanksgiving Favorites post part 1 here, but to recap…. With Thanksgiving happening just this past weekend, what better way to celebrate our November sponsors than by learning about their Thanksgiving favorites!

This sponsor spotlight post features our Large ad sponsors! Hope you’ll check out their Thanksgiving favorites, see what you have in common and then click over to say hello! We’re thankful to have them (our sponsors) and YOU (our readers) in our lives, so we hope you’ll take a second to get to know one another!

We’ve got one more Thanksgiving Favorites post coming at you here in awhile… I’ll be honest peeps. November got away from me. So we’ve set aside a whole day on the blog to feature our November sponsors. Take a second and meet them won’t you?

With Thanksgiving happening just this past weekend, what better way to celebrate our November sponsors than by learning about their Thanksgiving favorites!

This sponsor spotlight post features our XL ad sponsors! Hope you’ll check out their Thanksgiving favorites, see what you have in common and then click over to say hello! We’re thankful to have them (our sponsors) and YOU (our readers) in our lives, so we hope you’ll take a second to get to know one another!

My favorite thing about Britney’s blog… She puts family first. Her hubby has a weekly post he writes that is hilarious! There are always cute photos of her little boy to see and fun activities that she does with him to try out. Like this Thanksgiving Advent Calendar she taught us how to make! So fun!

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Go ahead dolls, click over and check them out! Both Chelsea and Britney are just lovely! Promise!

Today I’m going to share with you my Thanksgiving Gratitude Advent Calendar that I made for November. In my opinion, the whole month of November leading up to Thanksgiving, should be dedicated to gratitude. It’s a month that should be spent finding and recognizing the blessings in your life and sharing your thankfulness with those that helped bring those blessings to your life.

When I thought about making an advent calendar for Thanksgiving, I knew that it had to include gratitude. Here is what I came up with:

Supplies:

Fall scrapbook paper (I used 6 designs and 5 plain colors)

Paper cutter

Fall embellishments

Mini envelopes

Glue

Twine

Mini clothespins

Directions:

1. Count out 22 envelopes (one for each day of November up to Thanksgiving).

2. Fold the envelope flaps inside the envelope (or cut them off). You won’t need the flaps for the project and they will just get in the way.

3. Cut out 22 rectangles of scrapbook paper to glue to each envelope. I cut mine to 3.25″ x 2″ and made 2 of each of my 11 papers.

4. Glue one paper to each envelope.

5. Add embellishments to each envelope.

6. Cut the twine to the length you need for where you’re hanging it.

7. Using the clothespins, attach the envelopes to the twine.

8. Cut out strips of paper to write what you’re thankful on. I chose to use one color of paper for each person in my family, so I cut 22 green papers for Jess, 22 orange for Ryan, and 22 yellow for me.

9. You can either place all the strips in the envelopes to begin with, or you can make a pile of them and stick them in each day when you write on them.

10. Hang it up and enjoy!

I’m so excited to take a couple minutes each night to sit with my family and write down something we are thankful for! What a great month it is!

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You still have time to whip up a CUTE November gratitude advent! And regardless… you still have time to be thankful for your blessings!Thanks for sharing your fun idea with us Britney!!!!

Today we’d like to introduce you to our XL and Large Ad Sponsors!
October’s Sponsor Spotlight theme is, of course, HALLOWEEN!!!!

You’ll find each of our sweet friends has shared a Halloween photo and a few fun Halloween interview answers! Take a sec, see what you have in common with these lovelies and click over for a quick hello!
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You’ll find each of our sweet friends has shared a Halloween photo and a few fun Halloween interview answers! Take a sec, see what you have in common with these lovelies and click over for a quick hello!
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Let’s round out this month with the final Sept. Sponsor Spotlight!!
Since the first official day of autumn was last week this month’s theme is FALL!!!
Each of our lovely sponsors has shared their answers to a few Fall specific questions as well as their favorite fall photo.
We’d love for you to take a minute, see what YOU have in common with each of these pretties, then click over and make a new friend!